Southern California waves glow, but similar show unlikely on Central Coast

Many of us have seen the spectacular photograph of a surfer on a glowing electric blue-colored wave as it crashed on Newport Beach in the Southern California Bight.

This illuminating phenomenon is called bioluminescence and occurs when dinoflagellate plankton emits flashes of blue or green light in response to agitation. Bioluminescence is associated with red tides or other types of plankton blooms.

This has led many to asked if we could see a similar light show along the Central Coast anytime soon? Probably not, and here is why.

The northwesterly spring winds have kicked in along the Central Coast, producing a lot of fog-free afternoons, high seas, and vast amounts of upwelling.

This, in turn, has as brought frigid, clear and nutrient-rich water from the ocean’s depths to the surface along the immediate shoreline to replace the shallow water that is pushed out to sea.

Seawater temperatures at the Diablo Canyon Marina dropped to a bone-chilling 49 degrees Fahrenheit, and the northwesterly seas have averaged 5 to 7 feet in height.

Overall, a bit too cold and rough for the development of massive plankton blooms.

A significant change in the weather pattern is not expected to reduce the relentless gales of spring and allow the seawater temperatures to warm and the seas to calm, conditions that red tides prefer.

As we head toward summer and fall, the water will warm, and the seas will flatten. The average yearly seawater temperature at the Diablo Canyon is a chilly 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

The average minimum temperature occurs during spring and reaches a bone-chilling 48.8 degrees.

During the late summer and fall, the average maximum temperature can rise to 62.5 degrees, more than warm enough for the development of plankton blooms.

If there is enough sunlight, the bioluminescent plankton can multiply rapidly with the abundant nutrient-rich water acting like a fertilizer.

If all these conditions come together and with luck, bioluminescence can tune the ocean into a nearly indescribable light show.

Bioluminescence acts like light sticks at Halloween; it is the production of light by living organisms through an internal chemical reaction. This can be seen in fireflies back East or even in glow worms that live in canyons along the Central Coast, like Poly Canyon at the Cal Poly campus.

Almost all marine bioluminescence is blue green, probably because blue-green light travels farthest in water. On the other end of the light spectrum, red and yellow hues are quickly absorbed by the water column as you descend. Bioluminescent plankton inhabits all the world’s oceans but not its freshwater lakes.

One night, we were diving off San Clemente Island during a period of high bioluminescence activity and a pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins came swimming by.

The dolphins resembled a gaggle of fast-moving, brilliant blue torpedoes with trails of glowing bubbles corkscrewing toward the surface.

One moonless night, while serving in the U.S. Navy and traveling through the Strait of Hormuz situated between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman on the guided-missile frigate U.S.S. Estocin back in the early 1980s, the bioluminescence was frightfully strong.

The greenish wake of our ship could be seen from miles away as an ever-expanding chevron on the surface of a flat and calm sea as billions of agitated plankton gave off their light.

Along the Central Coast, one of the best places to see bioluminescence activity is along Avila Beach and Port San Luis.

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